Published: October 04, 2008 11:05 pm         

Decorating downtown

Scarecrow contest a fun tradition for downtown businesses

With the arrival of autumn, several local businesses are taking the opportunity to participate in what’s becoming a growing tradition in downtown Logansport.

This year’s “Scarecrow Row,” sponsored by Logan’s Landing, has attracted entries from 19 different businesses, which doubles last year’s total.

Dave Schmidt, the vice president of Logan’s Landing and first-year co-chair for the Scarecrow Row committee, was pleased to see the increase in turnout.

“It’s simply a benefit for the people of downtown and for the businesses to be creative and draw attention,” Schmidt said.

Most of the scarecrows are on display currently on Market Street and Broadway. Businesses have until today to complete their scarecrows for the contest and entries will remain on display until judging on Nov. 3.

In addition to designing a unique scarecrow, each business also had to come up with a creative name for its creation.

In recent years, the contest has become an annual tradition for many businesses. However, Schmidt said committee members have implemented several changes this year to keep the contest interesting.

Unlike in recent years when residents could vote for their favorite scarecrow by visiting downtown businesses, this year’s contest winner will be chosen by a panelist of three judges. The judges include Mayor Mike Fincher, Logansport-Cass County Economic Development Foundation President Skip Kuker and Logansport-Cass County Public Library Director David Ivey.

The committee felt this change in format makes the contest more fair to all the participating businesses.

In the past, Schmidt said there was no incentive for local businesses to participate. To attract more entrants this year, he and co-chair Samantha Schmidt decided to offer a prize to the winner.

“We looked at it and said, ‘There has to be a benefit for businesses to participate,’” Schmidt said.

The winner of this year’s contest will receive a free ad in the Pharos-Tribune.

In addition to the contest, Schmidt said Logan’s Landing will also host a “Downtown Spook-tacular on Halloween.” Children can trick-or-treat at participating businesses and walk in the annual Halloween parade, sponsored by the Elks Lodge.

Schmidt is excited about this year’s scarecrow contest and encourages visitors to take time to enjoy the works of the area businesses.

“It’s amazing,” he said. “We are really excited. I’m a big fan of Halloween. It’s neat to walk down the street and see people care about it.”

Denise Massie can be reached at (574) 732-5151 or via e-mail at denise.massie@pharostribune.com